Maharaja Sovan Singh playing pachisi
The Maharaja of Mewar, Rajasthan, Sovan Singh, is seen playing pachisi (modern parcheesi), a traditional cross and circle game known since the medieval period in India, with his courtier Chundawat Sarup Singh. Together they are seated in a white marble pavilion against a brilliant yellow background. The artist is named in the inscription on the reverse as Ambav, a follower (and likely a pupil) of the renowned Mewar court painter Tara. Together they represented the last generation of court painters in Rajasthan, who were soon to be displaced by a new technology, the glass-plate negative camera and the albumen print.
Artwork Details
- Title: Maharaja Sovan Singh playing pachisi
- Artist: Ambav (Indian, active 1860s)
- Date: ca. 1868
- Culture: India, Udaipur, Mewar, Rajasthan
- Medium: Opaque watercolor with gold on paper, inscribed in devanagari on the reverse
- Dimensions: Image: 8 3/4 × 11 15/16 in. (22.3 × 30.3 cm)
Sheet: 10 × 13 5/16 in. (25.4 × 33.9 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky Fund, 2019
- Object Number: 2019.123
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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